Placenta Ceremony
Placenta Ceremony
By Madison Earthwalker, Student of Song of Sophia
Blessed are those who know the sacredness of the Womb, of the Placenta, of birth, life, and death.
How special it is, to sit in ceremony with mothers, fathers, and womb-workers alike. To share in such magic.
The day of this Placenta Ceremony at The Mermaid Temple was truly healing for myself, my partner, and our entire lineage. Spending the hours leading up to the burial with my hands in the soil, and sharing birth stories with other incredible women under the warm sun. I remember smiling in awe at my beautiful toddler of a daughter romping around in the tall grass. I know I am doing this for her. But also for me. And for all generations to come.
I am blessed to have had an unassisted freebirth in the comfort of my home, and to have been able to hold my placenta. To touch it, and feel it, and gaze upon it. To have kept it safe for over a year, knowing the time would come to bury it in the Earth.
Tears flowing and yoni pulsing as we called upon our ancestors, guides, the four directions, and all Wombs before us.
Watching the men (Fathers, Shamans, sacred space-holders) lovingly dig the holes for the placentas in the Rose Garden sent ancient memories trickling down my cerebellum; of a time where the entire family honored Wom(b)en and their cycles. I fell deeply in love with the father of my child all over again in this moment. He later iterated to me that this was one of the best and most powerfully healing moments of his life.
Laying Aurora’s Placenta into the ground knowing the truth of the organ’s living intelligence; knowing that as it merged with the soil, and until the end of time, it would communicate with the Womb of the Earth, and the Earth with it-is something I will never forget.
The Placenta that was born with me 22 years ago was ripped away from my mother. She was never able to hold it, and it never met the soil.
All of this and much, much more was healed on that day.
A beautiful assortment of herbs and rose petals were offered alongside the Sound of a beating drum. My then 16 month old daughter knew instinctively to throw dirt over the Placenta.
This ceremony united our family, thoroughly healed traumas old and new, and rooted our child in the Earth forever.
She has since been so in tune with all of nature and its’ cycles. And knowing we can revisit the placenta garden at the Mermaid Temple for years to come… to honor the connectedness of all life and to *remember* in case we forget, is a blessing unparalleled.
In a world where the sacredness of Womb and Birth has been repressed and nearly forgotten, I felt so…LUCKY to be a part of this.
Featured Artist:Unknown
Photo of ceremony: Shelby Lafrinere
Placenta tree art: Emmy Harmon